See Upton and Murphy (1997) for a phylogeny of Uta based on mtDNA sequences. These data suggest that U. stansburiana from the islands of Angel de la Guarda, Mejia, and Raza should be recognized as a distinct species. However, Grismer (2002) retained these populations in U. stansburiana.

Subspecies stejnegeri (southeastern Arizona to western Texas and southward into north-central Mexico) was proposed as a distinct species by Collins (1991), but Collins did not present supporting data. Stebbins (2003) did not recognize any subspecies.

We follow Grismer (2002) in considering animals on Isla Cedros, formerly considered to be an endemic species U. concinna, as belonging to U. stansburiana.

We follow Grismer (2002) by assigning populations of Uta from Carmen, Danzante, and Coronado Islands in the Gulf of California to the name Uta stansburiana, rather than to the name Uta mannophora Dickerson, 1919, which is presumably a synonym of Uta stansburiana.

This lizard is represented by a very large number of occurrences or subpopulations. The total adult population size is unknown but surely exceeds 1,000,000. The extent of occurrence, area of occupancy, number of subpopulations, and population size are large and relatively stable.

Habitats include a wide variety of arid and semi-arid situations with scattered bushes and/or scrubby trees; soil may be sandy, gravelly, or rocky; the species is often found in sandy washes with scattered rocks and bushes (Stebbins 2003). Eggs are buried in sandy soil (Nussbaum et al. 1983).